Breaker (Riders of Apollo #4)

Chapter Thirty-Eight: Adrian Calder

Lucia's birthday is tonight and all of the husbands are panicking, hounding Romeo for all sorts of technology while I just sit there in confusion. I've been to that mansion before, the amount of security they have is unreal and I imagine that after last time, Matias has upgraded so I don't really have any reason to be worried.

Though I am a little on edge as Aurora has been tucked in the pink room with the girls since two o'clock this afternoon after spending the entire morning at the salon. Her anxiety is getting better, as in she's no longer dissolving into full blown panic attacks when someone looks her in the eye but she is still experiencing a few of them a month.

I'm concerned that it'll happen while I'm not there. The mansion is extremely large and unfamiliar so she'll be uncomfortable from the get-go, plus it's filled to the brim with strangers and I won't be there to coax her back from the edge nor am I allowed to enter Mexican territory without express permission or I violate the contract and lead us to war.

Which I definitely don't want to do but would without question, if she needed me.

"Breaker!" I snap out of my daydream to look up at Bear, who is handling this as well as expected. I mean, he's spent the whole week trying to convince his wife not to lead the pack into the party. Though Saviour would've been going anyway as she is Lucia's sister so I don't see how it would've made any difference.

Right now, Romeo is glaring at Bear while Runner stands behind him looking amused at the whole situation. "Look, Prez, there is seriously only so much tech that I can offer without violating the terms of the agreement. You just have to trust that they know what they're doing."

"My wife couldn't hurt a fly if she tried, Romeo." He groans back, rubbing his face and getting tenser and tenser by the minute.

"Well Saviour can take out an entire army on her own, Marielle can punch a six foot dickhead unconscious without flinching and Cassidy literally smashes bottles on people's heads. I think we should be more worried for the people at the party, especially because they'll be carrying guns."

"He is right, besides Matias has his defences shored up. You can't even get onto the street without being searched." Runner reassures, having been looking over Romeo's shoulder the whole time.

"I swear to god, if something goes down I'm going to lock Lexie in a room and just never let her leave."

"Yeah, look how well that went last time, boss." Mac mocks him as he walks passed with Miracle in his arms.

"Shut the fuck up, Mac." Bear continues his grumbling as we head to the lounge to relax, or at least try to. Reign looks fine considering his stance on this a few days ago, he's probably the most relaxed of them all though Hunter seems relatively fine too it's just Bear freaking out.

Rightfully so since Lexie has never learned how to look after herself and is an untapped source of never ending information. Still, the girls have proved what they're willing to do in protection of their Queen and will continue to do so.

"Lexie, I swear to God, if you touch me with that I will shoot you!" Saviour's shout makes us all turn around as Aurora flees the pink room still in jeans with her hair all perfectly curled and make up applied.

"I am so not getting involved in that, hide me." Aurora crawls behind me to stick herself between me and the couch, tucking her legs around my waist like a koala would and holds her breath as the door slams open again.

"Where the fuck is Cass? She needs this too!" Lexie reveals some device that doesn't look like anything particularly threatening but the way Aurora tenses gives me the impression that it's not a nice device.

"Uh, she went to the bathroom." Bear covers for her and Lexie immediately cocks her hip out and purses her lips.

"Fine, when you see her, tell her to hurry her ass up." The door slams behind her and Aurora gasps for air, poking her head over my shoulder to look at Bear.

"Thanks, jeez, that woman is crazy."

"What is that about anyway and why would my wife shoot her?" Reign looks amused as Aurora manages to move so that she's sat next to me instead of behind.

"It's called an epilator, it's basically an electric device made to viciously rip out hairs and she was trying to epilate Sav's entire arm just to see if it would work. She may be immune to pain but man that thing is torture."

"Get your ass in here Aurora Cassidy Sterling."

"Ah shit, my full name. Well it was lovely knowing you guys, make sure the funeral is big and flashy but the wake even better." We all laugh as she salutes and succumbs to her fate, screeches following soon after. "Lexie, I think you're a sadist!" We all laugh harder because we're horrible people and wait for forever for them to finish.

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"Finally, I swear to God, I'm never getting ready with you again." Aurora is first out of the room, looking adorably disgruntled but absolutely fucking stunning in that dress.

"Are you kidding? That was nothing, you should've seen it last year and I'm sure next year will be worse." Marielle laughs as she heads over to Hunter.

"Fuck off, no. Not next year, I'm having Lucia remove all of you from the guest list."

"Hey! This is the most fun I get all year!" Lexie screeches.

"Damn, boss, you've gotta up your game!" Mac mocks.

"Shut the fuck up, Mac, that's my daughter you're talking about." Mac raises his hands in surrender as Gears glares up at him from his armchair, with Gem in his lap he doesn't seem very intimidating I'll admit.

"Shut up, both of you. All of you tell us how good we look." Saviour rolls her eyes and turns to Lexie.

"Why? I already know how good I look."

"Me too, I look like a damn Queen." Marielle continues, fluffing her hair in the mirror.

"I concur." Rory agrees and I stand to tuck her into my side, laughing when Lexie reaches forward to tug her away from me.

"What did I say about ruining the outfits by touching the bikers?"

"I don't know, I wasn't listening."

"Aurora Cassidy, how disrespectful."

"What did you say about not touching them?" Sav asks, now pressed against her husband out of spite, Marielle too.

"Romeo, can you rig them up please?" Bear gestures for Romeo to hurry up so he pops open his case and heads over to Sav first.

"This is a monitor for your heart rate, blood toxicity level, stress level and it's a tracker. It needs to be inserted into your skin." Saviour just nods and shrugs part of her sleeve down so that Romeo can stab her with it. He goes through the other girls and Rory is last, she does not look happy with the idea.

"I..." She curls further into me and Romeo looks at me for confirmation.

"I'm not gonna make her do it, Romeo. Put that shit away." He grins up at me and claps my shoulder, Rory collapses in relief against me and Lexie looks on in disbelief.

"So I didn't even have to get stabbed? What the fuck?" Lexie turns her glare onto her husband who just grins at her.

"It's for your safety, my darling. You are the most at risk and you can't withstand torture."

"Neither can Mari or Cass."

"Both of them have proved that they can, Lex. You know that. Let's get going, the limo is outside." Saviour breaks up the fight before it can escalate and I kiss Rory's head as she heads out to the car with the others.

I hope it all goes well or I'm gonna get my ass beat by some vicious operatives of the Mexican Cartel.